Street violence is threatening the safety of our young people. This is why we’ve developed our free Young Responders programme. It's designed to inspire and empower young people from underserved communities by teaching them relevant, life-saving first aid skills.

What young people can learn as a Young Responder

The programme is run through interactive sessions based on real-life, first aid scenarios that are relevant to many young people's lives. Such as, dealing with a stab wound or a spiking incident. At our sessions, young people will get to learn practical first aid skills, boosting their confidence and knowledge when dealing with emergency first aid situations. They'll also have the chance to discuss and reflect on how such scenarios could impact their mental wellbeing.

Our sessions cover:

• responding to a catastrophic bleed
• dealing with an alcohol or vape spiking incident
• performing a primary survey and CPR
• discussing how first aid situations can affect mental health and wellbeing, and how to access support.

Who the sessions are for

Young Responders is aimed at young people aged 11 to 25 from underserved communities. We aim to adapt our sessions to meet the needs and abilities of the young people attending. Please let us know if you have any specific requirements during the booking process.

Session length

Sessions can be 60, 90, or 120 minutes long.

How many can attend the session

Our sessions have been designed to work with a range of group sizes up to a maximum of 30 young people.

If you’d like more than 30 young people to take part, then we would book multiple sessions to accommodate everyone.

Where sessions take place

We recommend sessions taking place somewhere that has plenty of space. We will discuss different options with you during the booking process however it will depend on the size of the group.

For a school or educational setting, we usually recommend using a classroom or hall space. For a local organisation or community group, then a suitable venue with plenty of space will need to be provided by your organisation.

All equipment for the session will be provided by St John Ambulance. We just ask that you provide a suitable space with chairs, a table if there is one, and a whiteboard or screen.

How to get involved

To deliver Young Responders, we work in partnership with schools, educational settings, and community organisations that support young people.

We work in the following areas:

• North East
• West Midlands
• London
• Hull
• East Riding

If you’re unsure if your organisation or group meets our criteria, then please get in touch and we can discuss your suitability. Email us at young.responders@sja.org.uk.